Parched
by 1Past and Present1
Summary: Love is like water. Don't drink it too fast. Savour the taste - it tastes of nothing.


**Parched**

I know it's strange.

Please give it a chance.

Do it for the puppies.

Thank you.

* * *

A hand.

A small, young hand.

Warm hand.

Soft hand.

A hand gloved in velvet.

Settles on my inner thigh.

An inward stroke once, twice.

Third's the charm that gets my heart racing.

Ooh.

Wait, hold on.

Huh?

React.

Do something.

Tails?

No, not that.

The hand stops its ministrations with a giggle.

"Morning, sleepyhead."

Oh, fuck me.

What did we do last night?

I hurt all over.

Open my eyes.

I'm in my cot.

Cute little foxy boy leaning over me.

No.

Wait.

Not that.

Not him.

I'm not a pervert.

No.

I couldn't have.

What's going on here?

Tails, I'm freaking out.

"Did you sleep well?"

Hurgh.

He smiles down at me.

"We should do that again sometime."

What?

"I had fun."

You mean we actually…

"Especially when you took your clothes off."

His laughter.

It's so young.

Little boy.

I.

Tapped.

That.

NOOO-

* * *

Glaaaargh!

"Shitting chilidogs, whoa!"

I'm gasping in my chair, gripping the armrests for support as my eyes dart about in panic.

"Crap!"

Um…

Hello?

"Nearly peed myself over here, shit!"

It feels like I've been submerged in water too long.

Halfway suffocated.

Finally I've emerged from the dark ocean of sleep in a spraying burst of reality.

So, it was all a dream?

Hmm.

"Hey, you all right?"

Sonic is in my face.

I study him closely.

"Nightmare, huh?"

Yeah, I think so.

But…

Was it really a dream?

"Must've been pretty bad to spook ya like that."

Or was it a recollection of prior events?

"You should've heard the noise you made."

His voice.

"Gee, you're pale and sweaty and shit."

It's really grating.

"You look like you saw a g-"

I punch him.

Really hard.

I don't know why.

But next thing I know…

My fist is in his eye and he's flying backwards into the control panel.

"Ayaaah!"

His spines do some damage.

He's not electrocuted like in the cartoons.

It's somewhat of a downer, really.

The vehicle lurches, then makes a painful grinding sound, diving into a sand dune.

I see it all through the windscreen.

We're submerged in darkness.

Something is obviously wrong.

I get up out of my chair.

Uh-oh.

"What the fuck, Rouge?"

Yeah.

Yeah, I think so.

Must've been a dream.

I need to go, now.

"Where you going?"

I walk out.

"Come back!"

Sorry, Sonic.

"Hey!"

Your problem.

"What… what happened to the-?"

I don't listen to the rest.

* * *

I gape at the view beyond my window.

Gosh.

Beautiful.

The desert really is a lonely, godforsaken place.

So much space.

Space.

I need space.

Need my space back.

"What the fuck, kid?"

"But I swear I didn't touch your radio thingy!"

"Little lying bastard, come back here!"

"Vector!"

I can hear Knuckles crash into things as he chases Charmy about the vessel, the kid having supposedly broken the only radio we had.

Our only one.

Broken.

And Tails is gone.

I could fix it.

But…

I'm crazy.

Unsafe.

They've got to keep my quarantined, so they won't catch the crazy, too.

But they're all going mad, trapped in here.

I want-

– need –

-space.

We're all screwed.

I laugh.

Furry little animals in the zoo.

Screwed!

It's hilarious!

* * *

My voice comes out as a growl.

I need water.

My guard stiffens.

Please.

"Look, Rouge, I'm sorry."

No, you're not.

But you will be.

I swear it.

Now give me some water.

"I was specifically told by Sonic-"

Fuck that asshole!

"-not to give you water since we're running low and you tried to drown yourself in it last time."

I know what you want…

"What?"

You want the big blue.

But he never notices you.

Does he?

You think keeping me dehydrated at his orders is gonna get you with him?

"No, that's not-"

Don't you dare lie to me.

Lie to yourself.

BUT DON'T YOU EVER FUCKING LIE-

"What the fuck are you doing?"

-TO ME.

"Get back!"

I'm gonna break you, Amy.

If it's the last thing I do.

Your pretty face…

So lovely it is.

It pisses me off something chronic.

That rhymes, see?

With Sonic.

Now let's see about getting out of this cell.

Fish the keys from her belt.

She's soft.

Bodies pressed against each other.

Pressed as snugly as they can be with iron bars separating us.

I want that water, now.

Yeah.

I'mma go get me some wat-er.

* * *

You're kidding me!

All that comes out the tap is sand!

Hot, dry sand!

Lean against the wall as the basin fills with sprinkled gold.

* * *

I wonder what it feels like to die.

Will it be gentle?

Will it hurt?

Will I go quietly?

Will I see my life flash before my eyes?

* * *

"Rouge."

Knuckles.

Holy shit.

You've got a gun.

You don't need a-

What happened to your hands, my darling?

They're covered in red sand.

We're all gonna die in here.

Mad.

Dehydrated.

Drowning in sand.

* * *

"I just thought-"

Yeah, I know what you were thinkin'.

And the answer is no.

"But-"

Shoot a glare at him.

No.

Tails sighs, his namesakes drooping as he bows his head sullenly.

And all he says is:

"Oh."

That's all he says to me.

And he's so abominably cute the way he says it.

Oh man, I think I really hurt the guy's feelings.

Aw, look, kid.

It's fine.

You just… don't grope a girl like that, you know?

He retracts his hand and places it on the dashboard.

"Sorry; I don't know what I was thinking."

So I'm gentle when I explain it to him.

To this young man.

Look, honey.

You've grown up a lot, and I like you.

But I'm old enough to be your mom.

No, wait.

That's not true.

I'm not that old.

But a decade older.

Ten.

Yeah, ten years.

It's a long time.

Many disappointments can be fit into that space of time.

Plenty of shortcomings.

Numerous errors.

Some more critical than others.

Just ask my mother.

Anyway, we've been cooped up together for a while.

It's natural you'd develop an attraction for me.

"But you don't feel the same way."

Oh, sweetheart.

If only life were that simple.

See, love is like water.

It refreshes you, sustains you, cools you down and is all-encompassing.

And as you can see, we're stuck in a fucking desert.

"What do you mean, that there's no love?"

No.

I just don't love anyone…

Or anything…

Anymore.

* * *

Wake up from another dream.

Or perhaps recollection.

It's all so hazy.

I can't really tell anymore.

What's the difference?

I'm dying.

I think.

It's taking a while to happen, but with the group dropping like flies around me, I've gotta pass on soon.

I'll make such a pretty corpse.

Let me close my eyes and pretend.

Let the hours pass by until then.

I'll be ready.

* * *

Wait, I hear something.

A rumbling.

Drag myself over the smooth, metallic floor.

Hoist my body over a bench and peer outside the scratched porthole.

Desert.

And approaching my window, a lone vehicle.

Chugging through the sand.

Friendly faces manning the front, waving at me.

Shadow.

He's with them.

He looks honestly glad to see me.

So I wave back.

Rescue.

I grin at that.

I laugh.

I scream to the heavens:

I'm going home!

Maybe there's a little love in here after all.

* * *

Open my eyes to dim, flickering lights, rust on the walls and a dry itch in my throat.

Smack my cracked lips together.

Yeah.

Pull the blankets up to my chin and get comfortable again in my cot.

That was a truly beautiful dream.


End file.
